CalTopo subscription

Interesting. This may be a dumb question, but, is he talking about the online map at caltopo.com or the maps tiles that you can get via apps like backcountrynavigator? Or both?
 
I don't use Caltopo much on the website itself, but I've used it through various mediums throughout the years, including the Trail Guides and BCP Map. I reached out to Matt to use them for those things and he generously gave them to us for free. The only stipulation was that if the usage got too high, he'd need to charge us for the bandwidth. Incredibly generous. I think it's one of the best mapping solutions on planet earth and I'm happy to pay Matt $40+ a year even if I don't use it much. That mapping/programming genius deserves a healthy income for what he provides us map lovers. Where do I sign up?!
 
I liked it so much that I donated to the site a while back...but I'm surprisingly cheap and I terribly dislike subscriptions. I don't like the idea of continually paying for something for the rest of my life. It just feels like everyone is going to a subscription system, and they expect us as users to look at each expense individually. The problem is that all of those subscriptions add up to a significant number that we get sucked into paying forever if we want to keep the service. I'm not falling for it. I want to retire when I'm 50.

I'd pay a one-time $200 or $300 for it without thinking twice...but I'm not willing to pay $400, or $600, or $1000...or however long I stay alive.

I've got my DeLorme software that I paid for one time that does most of the same things as CalTopo...I'll go back to that.
 
Looking more closely at the free options he intends to offer, I would probably find that sufficient:

I'm still working out the exact details and will lay them out in another post. However, my current thinking is a $40/year subscription that includes the following:
  • Unlimited private maps. Free users will be limited to 5 private maps, although they can create as many publicly shared ones as they want. If you already have more than 5 private maps, you can keep them, you just can't save any new ones until you get the total under 5.
  • Save PDF URLs for up to a year. For free accounts, URLs will expire after 30 days.
  • Large-format PDFs. Free accounts will be limited to 11x17.
 
Don't use many mapping places....use pdf maps for android on fires. I have all the Garmin 24K topos....
Anyone looked much at Acme Mapper? may do what you want.
 
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